AimWe aimed to investigate whether the 12-item Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) constitutes a valid and reliable measure of social support for the general adult Australian population.MethodsData were from Australia’s National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004–2006 and included 3899 participants aged 18 years old and over. The psychometric properties were evaluated with Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis. One-, two-, and three-factor (Significant Other, Family and Friends) structures were tested. Model fit was assessed with the posterior predictivep-value (PPPχ2), Bayesian (...) root mean square error of approximation (BRMSEA), and Bayesian comparative fit index (BCFI). Dimensionality was tested by comparing competing factorial structures with the Bayes factor (BF). Reliability was evaluated with the Bayesian ΩH. Convergent validity was investigated with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and discriminant validity with the Perceived Dental Control scale (PDC-3).ResultsThe theoretical three-factor model (Significant Other, Family, and Friends) provided a good fit to the data [PPPχ2< 0.001, BRMSEA = 0.089-95% credible interval (CrI) (0.088, 0.089); BCFI = 0.963-95% CrI (0.963, 0.964)]. The BF provided decisive support for the three-factor structure in relation to the other structures. The SO [BΩH= 0.95 - 95% CrI (0.90, 0.99)], FA (BΩH= 0.92 - 95% CrI (0.87, 0.97), and FR (BΩH= 0.92 - 95% CrI (0.88, 0.97)] subscales displayed excellent reliability. The MSPSS displayed initial evidence of convergent and discriminant validity.ConclusionThe MSPSS demonstrated good psychometric properties and excellent reliability in a large Australian sample. This instrument can be applied in national surveys and provide evidence of the role of social support in the Australian population. (shrink)

Die Auseinandersetzung mit teleologischen Vorstellungen ist in Kants Kritik der Urteilskraft an die Diskussion des Begriffs der Zweckmäßigkeit geknüpft. Einerseits wird dort eine subjektiv zweckmäßige Spezifikation der Natur einem transzendentalen Prinzip der Urteilskraft zu Grunde gelegt. Diese Möglichkeit wird durch die Darstellbarkeit dieses Begriffes eröffnet, den die Kritik der ästhetischen Urteilskraft thematisiert: Der Begriff einer subjektiven Zweckmäßigkeit wird durch das Wirken der Einbildungskraft in der Synthesis derjenigen Naturprodukte dargestellt, die wir als schön beurteilen.

Satisfaction, well-being, pleasure or happiness are some of the terms used by researchers who attempt to characterize the positive emotions and experiences of teachers in their professional practice. Without choosing between these different conceptual frameworks, this article aims to identify the determinants of this “happiness”, particularly in relation to the expectations upon entering the profession. It emphasizes the importance of student-related factors, in particular the quality of the relationship that teachers have with their students and the quality of learning, and (...) their reciprocal influence. Training courses to strengthen teachers' skills in these two areas are then seen as a way to increase the happiness of learning and teaching. The article finally insists on the importance of the evaluation of the trainings, by presenting a currently under development device to evaluate a training action aiming at reinforcing the psychosocial skills of 1st grade students, which is carried out in a school district of the Paris region. This device uses the CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System) tool, not yet well known in France. (shrink)

TRABALHO INFANTIL PERIGOSO: VIOLAÇÃO À SAÚDE E CONSEQUÊNCIAS JURÍDICO-SOCIAIS.

A ideia que avançamos aqui é que Voltaire é de pleno direito o inventor ou um dos inventores privilegiados do conceito de "tempos modernos" ou de uma nova atitude do filósofo face ao presente, compreendido como acontecimento no sentido de ruptura com "a craca e a ferrugem dos séculos" que ainda continuam a pesar sobre os espíritos. Segue-se este paradoxo: o acontecimento da modernidade é ao mesmo tempo um presente efetivo e um simples "crepúsculo" para o advento das Luzes.

The notion of idea is a key concept in early modern philosophy. From Descartes seminal works at the beginning of the 17th century to the work of Thomas Reid in the closing years of the 18th century, discussion in theoretical philosophy is dominated by the debate about the core concept of idea. This two-volume textbook introduces eleven key authors from this period. The first volume presents the central texts in modern translation, often new translations based on the source texts. The (...) second volume contains commentaries on each text with a systematic introduction, a line-by-line commentary and a contextualisation of the contents. Thus this textbook provides students of philosophy with a comprehensive overview of the modern discussion of the concept of idea. ". (shrink)

We begin by considering two common ways of conceiving critical metaphysics. According to the first (and polemical) conception, critical metaphysics analyzes nothing more than the form of thought and thereby misses the proper point of metaphysics, namely to investigate the form of reality. According to the second (and affirmative) conception, critical metaphysics starts from the supposed insight that the form of reality cannot be other than the form of thought and is thus not required to analyze anything but that form. (...) We argue that the first conception is too weak while the second is too strong. Then we sketch an alternative conception of critical metaphysics, a conception we find expressed both in Kant’s B-Deduction and in the way Barry Stroud has recently investigated the possibility of metaphysics. According to such a conception, a properly critical metaphysics needs to proceed in two steps: first, it needs to analyze the most general and necessary form of any thought that is about an objective reality at all; second, it needs to investigate how that form of thought relates to the reality it purports to represent. But unlike Kant, Stroud remains sceptical regarding the possibility of a satisfying transition from thought to reality in metaphysics. We argue that this dissatisfaction can be traced back to a notion of objectivity and reality in terms of complete mind-independence. Then we sketch an alternative notion of objectivity and reality in terms of distinctness from subjects and acts of thinking, and argue that it is that notion that allows Kant, with his Transcendental Idealism, to make the transition required for any satisfying metaphysics, namely that from the form of thought to reality. (shrink)

The concept of event provides the essential bridge from the realm of virtuality of the quantum state to real phenomena in space and time. We ask how much we can gather from existing theory about the localization of an event and point out that decoherence and coarse graining—though important—do not suffice for a consistent interpretation without the additional principle of random realization.

In Zadig , published in 1748, Voltaire wrote of “the great principle that it is better to run the risk of sparing the guilty than to condemn the innocent.” At about the same time, Blackstone noted approvingly that “the law holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.” In 1824, Thomas Fielding cited the principle as an Italian proverb and a maxim of English law. John Stuart Mill endorsed it in an address to (...) Parliament in 1868. General acceptance of this maxim continues into our own period, yet it is difficult to find systematic attempts to defend the maxim. It is treated as a truism in no need of defense. But the principle within it is not at all obvious; and since it undergirds many of our criminal justice policies, we should be sure that it is justifiable. First, however, we must clarify what the principle means. (shrink)

Obwohl jüngere Interpretationen Descartes meist vor dem Vorwurf eines doxastischen Voluntarismus in Schutz nehmen, gibt es im Kontext der cartesischen Urteilstheorie erhebliche Schwierigkeiten mit seinem Begriff der Willensfreiheit. Vor allem zwei Aspekte von Descartes’ Theorie lassen sich auf den ersten Blick nur schwer miteinander vereinbaren: die unbegrenzte Freiheit des Willens auf der einen und die unweigerliche Zustimmung des Willens zu klaren und deutlichen Ideen auf der anderen Seite.Ich schlage zunächst vor, zur Lösung dieser Schwierigkeiten zwei verschiedene Begriffe der Willensfreiheit bei (...) Descartes zu unterscheiden, von denen jeder seinen spezifischen Anwendungsbereich hat: Freiheit als Wahlfreiheit und Freiheit als Spontaneität. In einem zweiten Schritt argumentiere ich, dass sich unter Voraussetzung von Descartes’ Urteilstheorie seine These der unbegrenzten Freiheit des Willens für beide Begriffe von Willensfreiheit verteidigen lässt, ohne dass Descartes deshalb zum doxastischen Voluntaristen würde. (shrink)

Zur Lehre vom Sein in der modernen Philosophie, von K. H. Haag.--Auf der Suche nach dem Sein, von J. P. Sartre.--Die Philosophie Heideggers, von G. Siewerth.--Die Frage nach Gott, von G. Siewerth.--Das Umgreifende, das das Sein selbst ist, von K. Jaspers.--Allgemeinheit und Individualität, von N. Hartmann.--Das individuum, von C. Nink.--Aktivität, von C. Nink.--Seinsfinalität, von C. Nink.--Sein, Nichtsein und Angst, von P. Tillich.--Mut und Transzendenz, von P. Tillich.--Philosophie und Theologie, von K. Barth.--Eine Auswahl aus "Adventures of ideas," von A. N. (...) Whitehead.--Das Problem der Freiheit, von J. Dewey.--Erscheinung und Wesen, von M. J. Saosjorow.--Abstraktes und Konkretes, von P. W. Kopnin. (shrink)

Science-and-religion must be cognizant of the future on several fronts. A challenge that remains central to our endeavor is the issue of diversity—not topical diversity, but participant diversity. As a way of initially addressing this problematic, I suggest a threefold tactic. First, there needs to be a refocus of primary attention toward the realm of public/ethical issues. Second, with this shift comes the need to avoid extreme positions by finding a middle ground. Third, a highly promising path worth pursuing toward (...) this end is paved by the once-again burgeoning theory of emergence. (shrink)

The discussion of the hermetical §§ 76/77 of Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment is the centerpiece of Eckart Förster’s groundbreaking Die 25 Jahre der Philosophie. The decisive methodological tool employed by Kant in those sections is the use of limiting concepts such as intellectual intuition and intuitive intellect. Förster’s discussion of the use of limiting concepts in those paragraphs is outlined and ultimately – despite some criticism in exegetical detail – assessed as the right way to reconstruct the (...) intricate argument of those important sections. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Internationales Jahrbuch für philosophische Anthropologie Jahrgang: 5 Heft: 1 Seiten: 159-178.

[Revised translation of a manuscript originally published in German in Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung 54a, 2--10 (1999) and dedicated to Georg Sussmann on the occasion of his seventieth birthday.] We discuss an ontological model suggested by quantum physics, in which the notion of events is of central significance. The conventional objects are considered as causal links between events. Localization in space-time refers primarily to events, not to objects. The intrinsic indeterminacy forces us to consider both possibilities and facts, corresponding to the (...) distinction between future and past. In presently existing theories, the definition of individual events and their localization properties depends on asymptotic arguments adapted to prevailing situations. (shrink)

Spinoza′s theory of ideas is one of the most important and at the same time most controversial aspects of his Ethics. In this paper a new interpretation of this theory is suggested that allows for a conception of this theory as providing valuable steps towards a naturalized theory of intentionality. To begin with, the principled distinction between the finite and the infinite intellect is established by a distinction between two kinds of representational relation. Since both of these relations can in (...) turn be reduced to a relation of indication there is no evidence for an alleged ambiguity with respect to the concept of an idea in Spinoza′s theory. While the distinction between different relations of representation has important epistemological consequences, the reducibility of those relations to an underlying relation of indication opens the way for a possible naturalization of the intentionality of the mental. (shrink)